"You've Caught the NET!"

THE CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE MARKET, AND OTHER THINGS CHICAGO, FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A LITTLE WHITE DOG!

Christmas Day in Chicago!  Hard to believe, you dogs - another year is almost in the proverbial pooper scooper, so to speak.

Yes, the Christmas Shopping Season had it's usual hustle and bustle.  For me, and my Human Dad, Team Leader Dean, that meant our annual Father-Son Christmas Shopping Spree - yesterday, Christmas Eve, right after lunch. 

We hit the Linconwood Town Center.  The Best Buy just up the street here on Touhy Avenue.  And then headed back to Dean's Team World Headquarters - on the Mezzanine Level on Lincoln and Montrose Avenues - to wrap a gift or two.

The year 2009 has been an incredible year for our little Real Estate Team.  Watershed, as Daddy Dean likes to call it!

Newfound business - where, this time one year ago, we thought there would be little.  Old connections - one via Facebook and Social Networking - will be life changing.

As Daddy says, you dogs - it is very often, when things are at their bleakest.  When you think all hope is lost.  When you feel there is no way out - the pen is locked - mystically, magically, a new door appears to open.

Over the past year, the Chicago Condominium Market has come down hard.  Single Family Houses, in many of the North and Northwest Side Chicago Neighborhoods we serve most frequently, have lost, in some cases one-quarter of their value.  Second Homes, Investment Properties - very tough to sell or have financed.

Short Sale Properties - those distressed sales where the homeowner now must sell for far less what he owes the bank - have become a daily, grinding part of our lives.  Foreclosure properties as well.  A couple of years ago, few inside or outside of the real estate business never even knew what these were, let alone dealing with the heartbreak of them.

But things are looking up here in Chicago!

First-time home buyers are heading to buy with greater frequency, lured, in part, by the Fed Buyer Credit - now available for some repeat buyers as well.  People are becoming more frugal, and really trying to improve on their credit situation - this might not have happened if the status quo continued, and housing appreciation continued unabated.

Those who can are becoming more charitable, helping those who can't.  And folks who never, ever thought they would be in trouble financially - would never be late with a bill, or a house payment - are.  And everyone seems to understand!

You know, you dogs, Daddy Dean is not a Christian.   He never grew up believing the the Spirit of Christmas - although my Human Mommy, Sue, did.

But, often times, the Spirit of Christmas goes beyond spirituality.  It is more about FAITH.  The Faith that you can not only survive, but that things will get better.  Flourish.  Always.  Forever!

Like the line in old Christmas film Gracie and I watch with Mommy and Daddy each year - "Miracle on 34th Street,"   The original one, with Maureen O'Hara, and a young Natalie Wood.  Always - "You Gotta Believe!"

And that's really The Christmas Miracle.  No matter your religion!

Have a Very Merry Christmas, from Dean's Team here in Chicago - Buddy, Gracie, Dean, Sue, Kathy, Cathy, Janet, and Jeff!

Here's a link to my post today via BlogChicagoHomes.com.

YOUR ACE REPORTER ON FOUR PAWS,

BUDDY HOLLY MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO